Leaving Turner money on the table in 1999 came with a no-compete clause that parked any WWE aspirations for a year, resulting in Raven briefly returning to ECW to steal a living as the unlikely babyface partner of both Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman. The company was already a door mat for him before he wiped the last remaining WCW sh*t off his shoes, but they needed a star and he needed a spot.
This is the strange thing about Vince McMahon's aforementioned incredulity. Raven's impending arrival was a bit of a worst kept secret at the time, but McMahon was obviously so insulated in his money-sh*tting bubble that he had no idea.
Everybody else thinking the former manager/announcer could add value didn't matter if the boss disagreed, and he seemed to from the off. Teaming with Tazz to extract a few more ECW chants reduced his character to something Scott Levy had never had to tackle in the gimmick before - obvious mediocrity. He had no nest, nor flock, nor motivation to inflict violence beyond this horribly tacked-on relationship with the Human Suplex Machine. But Raven had always been about control, and Levy himself fairly quickly found a way to try and assert some over his career.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
